I have lost count of the number of times I have spoken to people who really believe that homosexuality is an invention of the modern world that is normalized by press.

So is this our invention? Apart from the fact that if the bible is to be believed, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah dates back at least 2000 years, and the ancient Greek depiction of same sex relationships go back to 600BC, I had the good fortune to meet a gay man called John, so I asked him “Did you decide to become gay?”

Needless to say John was shocked by my ignorance but he kindly explained that being gay is not a choice. According to him, he was a happy little boy who played football like all the boys his age; that is until he reached puberty and started to find his male playmates attractive. He knew this…